Perhaps the one thing that separates the Los Alamos’ running programs from most others is the ability to peak at the right time.
In the final meet of the regular season, Los Alamos’ ability to do so was once again on display.
Los Alamos closed out the 2013 season at home Friday, hosting a quadrangular meet which included St. Michael’s and District 2-4A opponents Capital and Santa Fe – Taos was also invited but was a no-show.
The Hilltopper girls dominated the meet at Sullivan Field, scoring 183 points, 95 more than St. Michael’s. St. Mike’s Horsemen won the boys competition, while the Hilltopper boys were second overall, 5.5 points behind.
Along the way, Los Alamos’ girls won all but five events, while Los Alamos’ boys won six events on the day.
With just this week’s district meet and the state Class 4A meet the following weekend, the Hilltoppers are quickly approaching top form and both teams feel ready to make a serious title run again.
“Being a senior, it’s definitely coming down to trying to focus more,” said Hilltopper Brady Stokes, who had one of the best meets of his career Friday. “It’s exciting. I’m definitely excited about these last two meets.”
Stokes won the javelin competition, finished second in the discus and third in the 110 meter hurdles. He was at or near career bests in all three disciplines, and actually had a personal best in the hurdles despite clipping the next-to-last hurdle on the way over.
Next week, the teams will stack their lineups with athletes that are teetering near qualifying for state but haven’t yet done so. The top two finishers in each event advance to the state meet.
Friday, Los Alamos got to see two of its district opponents, Capital’s Jaguars and Santa Fe’s Demons. The Jaguar boys finished well back of St. Mike’s and Los Alamos, but did have some solid sprint-distance competitors.
The Hilltoppers, however, aren’t expected to be in danger of losing either of their long-held district titles.
Both Los Alamos 400 relay teams had big showings to start the meet.
The girls relay squad ran the best, cleanest race of its season and dropped below the 50-secoond mark, finish with a time of 49.89, which improved on their best posted Class 4A time this season.
Hilltopper sprinter Celeste Levy, who was on the 400 relay team that got disqualified two weeks earlier at a meet in Albuquerque, said that DQ was foremost on her mind going into the race.
“I thought it was a great race and I was glad I didn’t pass the exchange zone,” she said. “That race really got me warmed up for the 100.”
Levy, who is having a solid freshman season for Los Alamos despite battling rib problems and a bout of the stomach flu earlier this week, finished second to teammate Amy Neal, who passed her with just about 10 meters to go in the 100, then came in second in the 200 meters.
Los Alamos the defending state champ in the 400 relay and having the team run a sub-50 second race put them nearly on pace with the powerful 2012 squad.
“That was a nice run,” Los Alamos head coach Paul Anderson said. “We weren’t necessarily set up for that kind of run, but it was nice to see.”
Hilltopper star Laura Wendelberger had a huge showing in the final home appearance of her career at home. Along with leading off both the winning 400 and 1600 relays, she also won the 100 hurdles, high jump and long jump.
On the boys side, Los Alamos’ 400 relay team scored a 44.20, good enough to punch its ticket to state. Heading in, the 400 was the only relay Los Alamos had yet to qualify.
The Hilltoppers led the race wire-to-wire and had three clean handoffs, something Los Alamos has historically been hit-or-miss with.
Daniel Dunning, another Hilltopper senior, came up big Friday. Dunning, who has elevated his game late in the season, finished second in both the 300 hurdles and the triple jump, qualifying for state with a leap of 42 feet, more than a foot and a half better than his previous best this season and among the top triple jumps in school history.
“It went really well,” Los Alamos head coach Matt Felton said. “The guys are coming along. They love competing at home…we had a lot of guys step up.”

The Los Alamos Hilltopper boys and girls track and field teams hosted their final regular season meet Friday at Sullivan Field.The Hilltopper girls earned a big victory in the four-team competition, while the Hilltopper boys were second behind St. Michael’s. Here, Los Alamos’ Amy Neal clears 10 feet, 6 inches on the pole vault to win that event. Neal is a senior who was competing in her final home meet.